Question of the Day, Friday, December 12

Good Morning!  And Happy Friday! 

Let's talk about clipping your kitty's claws. Do you clip or trim? How often? Is your cat hard to trim?

Mollipop and Tabby have their claws. We usually clip the first Sunday afternoon of the month. Tabby is a sweetie; she just lays in my arms and Rick trims her claws, then cleans her ears out. She doesn't like it, but she deals very well. We put her down and she scampers away.

Then it's Molli's turn. And as wonderful as Tabby is, that's how terrible Mollipop is. Squirming and shrieking the entire time. She acts like we're killing her and honestly, it's just not that bad. We consider it a job well done, if we can get at least five claws trimmed. We usually end up putting her down on the floor and she runs, screaming, from the bathroom. I like to get her when she's been napping because we can usually get two claws trimmed before she's fully awake. After that, it's all downhill. We've been doing this since she was a kitten and we've never hurt her. You would think by now, that she'd realize that, if she'd stop making it so difficult, we'd get it over with a lot sooner.

And then when we're done, it's treats for everybody....even the ones who don't get claws trimmed get their treats.

How do you deal with trimming claws?

We don't trim our cats claws.
Ours have an enclosure outside with tall posts which they climb by using both front and back claws. They are a mix of sisal, nylon rope and wood and we also have decking and paving slabs which they run around on. Luckily that keep their nails in check.

I think if we had to trim claws our Amber wouldn't mind at all, she loves having her paws massaged. Sasha on the other hand flicks her paws at the slightest touch so it would probably be a real struggle with her.

When we had our Monty we used to have to trim his claws for about the last 6/8 months before he passed as he stopped climbing, scratching the scratch poles and generally lost interest in doing most things. The poor boy started catching his claws in the rug and getting stuck. We knew when it was time for his trim because we would hear him tip tapping along the wood floor.

I clip, usually once a week.  The clowder isn't keen, but they know it gets done.  My big thing is trying to remember to put the dogs in another room before I start.  The cats don't like being confined in my arms with 4 wet black noses in their face, lol.

We've pretty much given up doing it ourselves.  First, my eyes, even with my glasses, just aren't good enough to see.  Especially with Cocoa, who has very long fur between her toes and her nails are a dark color so they really get hidden, even when we extend them.  Casper has become impossible to do; he gets so incredibly upset.   Tom used to be able to do his (and Cocoa's) but now that he's older he's more cranky about it. 

Having said all that, we recently bought a brand new trimmer and I'm hoping that might help.  Maybe the other one had dulled.

Both use scratching surfaces regularly which helps.  We do need to bring Casper in to have them done professional at this point if the new one doesn't help.  I can hear him click-click-click on the floors lol. It's worth the $10 to have them done professionally.

Ruby HATES to be restrained so nail trimming is not easily completed.  Originally we tried grabbing and holding her while the other person clipped nails, but that never worked as Ruby is like a slippery eel, and always squirmed away leaving behind a trail of flying fur! 

What I now do is try to clip her nails when she's napping on my lap. She doesn't like having her toes touched, but she is getting more patient and sometimes I get as many as 3 done at one time.  I just clip off the tip, as I'm too nervous to get too close to the quick.

Mogli is really easy to clip, so his front paws get done every week or two, and his back claws every three or four weeks. He likes to roughhouse, and clipped claws save our skin.

Jamie wouldn't hold still to have his claws clipped, so I used to clip just one periodically. He'd pulled it out completely by snagging it on a radiator, and it had grown back in crooked and ragged.

I have never trimmed any of my cats claws and have never had a problem. (?) I inspect them when they are on my lap and have never seen a need, how do you know when they are too long? Both cats use scratching posts and we have mostly hard surfaced floors, maybe that keeps them in check. In all of the cats I have owned, and that would probably be near 30 (I am old ) I have never trimmed a cats nails and have never had them have a problem with them.

I clip as needed. My Aby has no problem with me handing his paws, although sometimes he does get fussy and growls (he has "feline ADD" and literally has a 2 second attention span ). My DMH tends to flop over whenever I try to clip her nails so it takes awhile for me to get her front paws done. She really hates her back paws touched so I don't trim those nails too often.

There was a time that whisky would spend hours sleeping on my lap so I'd just take the top off, my eyes are too bad to go any further. However he now sleeps between my knees on the foot rest of my TV chair so I can't get to them. If he has to go to the vet she does it for free..No way could I do blighty's claws and I doubt the vet would be able to. He's been off the streets for 1.4 years but is still a scaredy cat...They both use the cardboard box, they have 3, and whisky also uses the climbing thing.

I had tried clipping Autumn's claws about a month after I adopted her, I thought she would be as easy as Misty was but HECK NO, she clawed and scratched and wriggled her way right out of my hold.  There is no way I can ever clip her claws.  Only the vet gets to do it and someone has to hold her down.  Misty didn't like it either but she wasn't as violent as Autumn is. 

I can't brush Autumn either, she is one bad kitty and as the show on Animal Planet is called, Autumn is My Cat from Hell!!!

Di and Bob said:

 
I have never trimmed any of my cats claws and have never had a problem. (?) I inspect them when they are on my lap and have never seen a need, how do you know when they are too long?

Click to expand...

I figure they are too long / need a trim when the ends are pointy and sharp.   Basically when it hurts when the claws meet human skin.

I trim front claws when needed, when they start getting caught on things.  Patches is usually pretty easy.  He just starts getting antsy right at the end.  It usually takes two or three sessions to get Alice's done.  I don't do their back claws.  When Patches was having issues with a food allergy and he had a yeast infection in his ears the vet clipped his back claws.  He was tearing up the inside of his ears with the scratching.

I trim when needed, with a couple of exceptions. Squeek has one deformed back claw that needs to be trimmed about once a month so that it doesn't become ingrown. Dusty Springfield gets her front claws trimmed regularly because she likes to reach out and grab people!

Mouse needs his claws clipped every couple of weeks:  They are fast growing, very hard and very sharp because they never get used othen than his groomiong on the cat tree.  Thankfully once I have his stretching out, squirming and generally being as long and difficult to handle as he can possibly be without being bitey or scratchy Mouse is very sweet and just lays on his back on my lap while I clip one paw at a time.  He dislikes his back claws being done but he is very good and I can always get all 4 paws done in one session.  He is straight in to the kitchen and sitting with his nose at his fish snack tin within a mili-second of being let loose of course.  

I don't clip all of their claws. There are about 20 big old pine trees in their enclosure so I think the tree bark must wear them down quite a lot. I clip Little Boy's front claws because he scratches at the wooden door frames. He doesn't like it much, but I can usually get them all done before he wriggles free.

I just use regular "human" nail clippers. Does anyone use the proper clippers for pet claws?

Norachan said:

 
I just use regular "human" nail clippers. Does anyone use the proper clippers for pet claws?

Click to expand...

I use the nail clippers like you, I found the proper claw clippers really awkward to handle and can see what I'd doing and feel more in control with the nail ones.

Norachan said:

 
I just use regular "human" nail clippers. Does anyone use the proper clippers for pet claws?

Click to expand...

I do. The one I use looks like this. I find it easy to use.

I use cat claw scissors. I have a nice older pair of Bamboo clippers that are really easy.

We trim once every couple months with cat clippers. We haven't been very consistent lately, but the cats are generally well behaved and seldom get stuck on anything. Mo will only let my boyfriend clip him, he's a complete ragdoll for him and lies on his back to be done. Kismet needs to be held by one person on her hind legs, front paws in the air while the second person clips.

snick has never allowed the vet or vet techs to trim her claws, but she begrudgingly allows me to trim them. i trim snick's front and back claws about every 5 weeks, or sooner if i start hearing her claws clicking on the floor as she walks. she didn't need her claws trimmed when she was younger, but now that she's a senior cat she needs me to help keep her claws from getting too long and getting caught in things. she has one claw that seems...thickened, and if not trimmed on a regular basis that claw will curl around and try to grow through her paw pad.

jasper is 2 1/2 years old and while he doesn't really mind having his claws trimmed, he doesn't like to sit still for it either. there's no way i could hold him still, he's way too strong and wiggly-squirmy. so i kind of play with his paws (front and back) while i trim each claw. i don't always get every claw trimmed, but i usually get most of them. jasper needs his claws trimmed about every two weeks, though they could be trimmed every week. i prefer not to "push" him to trim his claws every week, so we trim every two weeks.